Forwarding Dallas / Atelier Data + MOOV

A good Team, a winning team...Congratulations guys, specially José Niza!

Three winning proposals for the Re:Vision Dallascompetition have recently been announced and include Atelier Data + MOOV's Forwarding Dallas prototype for sustainable urban living. The proposal transforms components that make up a city block in an effort to shape how people will live and work in the future.

More images and further project description after the break.

Forwarding Dallas, a 40,000 square meter complex, is a housing and commerce building that accommodates 854 residents in housing options ranging from studio apartments to three bedroom flats. The design of Atelier Data + MOOV, both Portuguese firms, is driven by research which then expands and develops into overall design strategies.

For this proposal, initial investigation recognized natural cycles and focused on how to replicate them architecturally. Working with the natural form and diverse system of a hillside, the space is organized as valleys, slopes and hilltops, which maximize solar gain, views and productive surfaces. The dynamic composition of buildings creates large voids for open green spaces and the angled roofs function as green roofs for agricultural purposes.

"Nature has been working forever, what challenges us now is finding how it will keep working forever. Intelligence has brought us to a point at which we have at hand an array of technical solutions that can either deprive or provide us with comfortable, culturally rich living conditions. The way we arrange such devices will ultimately make all the difference," shared the architects.

Energy is obtain through the combination of photovoltaic and wind power. The southwest façade is created using a venetian blind concept that adjusts according to the season to take advantage of solar gain while the northeast façade is composed of thick, high thermal mass straw bales which provides added insulation.

The final goal of the proposal was not viewed as simply building a physical structure, but rather seen as a way to influence how a community can inhabit a structure. At the completion of the Re:Vision Dallas competition, an entire major-market city block will be renovated into a wholly sustainable urban community which will create a template that can be incorporated into additional cities throughout the United States.